Consumers, product and service merchants, purchasing and sales agents, suppliers, manufacturers, credit card and debit card companies and banks have all seen process improvements including improved payment processes due to advances in electronic commerce technology. Buyers can now find desired products through Internet searches and can purchase goods and services through secure online channels. Transactions may be processed almost instantly leading to faster delivery of the purchased item, media content, or service.
Credit cards in stores are authenticated by several mechanisms such as physical possession of the card and signature verification. Online; however, cards do not have these mechanisms available. One aspect of online transactions is the common concern of theft of payment account information. Generally the user of a credit card with an online vendor assures possession of the card by entering the expiration date and the CVV code. Absent some means of verifying the user of the card, online credit card use is very susceptible to fraud. Someone who knows the card number and CVV code can use the card without the owner's permission.
Accordingly, e-commerce systems typically include, when the user chooses to make a purchase, the establishment of an encrypted tunnel between the merchant and the customer so that payment account information may be transmitted safely. Typically, a secure page is provided to the customer to prompt the customer to enter a payment account number and other required account information. A merchant server then validates the account information as a part of completing the transaction. Thereafter, a purchase confirmation is generated in one of a variety of formats to the customer.